Over this past holiday season, James Cameron’s highly anticipated third Avatar movie hit theaters. Avatar: Fire and Ash ended its box office run with a $1.49 billion global haul, becoming one of the biggest hits of the year. Now, the fourth film in this series is currently on Walt Disney Studios’ release calendar for a 2029 release, but how far along is Avatar 4 after Cameron said it is "very likely" to happen? One star just shared an update.
Trinity Jo-Li Bliss plays the role of Tuk, who is the youngest of Jake and Neytiri’s children in the franchise. When speaking to The Direct at the Saturn Awards, the actress said this about how much of Avatar 4 has been filmed so far:
We filmed like a first little section of it, and that's before this epic time jump, which is gonna really expand this story from the character's plans, ecosystems of Pandora, and it's like... We barely touched the tip of the iceberg for what we know about this world, and these characters, and how deep they can go.
We’ve heard before from Cameron and some of the cast that some of Avatar 4 was shot while they were in production on Way of Water and Fire and Ash, but this update from Bliss definitely offers more insight about what exactly was filmed. It doesn’t sound like that much of the untitled sequel was shot, but Cameron was smart to make sure the cast did sequences prior to a reported eight-year time jump that he had planned for Avatar 4 and 5. Bliss also said this:
Article continues belowSo, I really hope we get to continue it. But yeah, we filmed a wee, little bit, and I do remember it well. Actually, even though I was nine, because it was a time jump type thing... I am now 16. Isn't that kind of insane?
What’s wild is that the Avatar sequels were predominantly shot from 2017 to 2020, and stars like Trinity Jo-Li Bliss had to wait until last year to see the final product for Fire and Ash. During this new interview, the 16-year-old said that while Way of Water and Fire and Ash were “basically one story,” the next two planned installments are going to be a “whole new chapter” should they officially go into production.
The reason why Avatar 4’s production isn’t surefire despite making over a billion at the box office reportedly has to do with how much it costs to make these movies. Cameron told CinemaBlend back in December that he’s “artistically” ready to make more Avatar movies, but he’d have to “evaluate” how well Fire And Ash does.
He also spoke about other projects he wants to work on that have nothing to do with Avatar. Since there’s been a decline in box office returns with the franchise, the filmmaker has also previously talked about figuring out “how to bring costs down” for future installments.
One major win about Fire and Ash was the introduction of the villain Varang, who has quickly become a fan favorite among audiences. When talking about Avatar 4 in March, James Cameron discussed wanting to have the character to be “written up a bit more” than he may have originally intended.
So, now, while we wait and see about Avatar 4, James Cameron just co-directed a concert movie with Billie Eilish called Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D), which hits theaters on May 8.
